Patient angry at £65 taxi bill

A woman was driven 40 miles from Newark Hospital to the Royal Derby Hospital by ambulance, only to have to pay £65 for a taxi back.

Mrs Sandra Hardy went to Newark Hospital at about 4am on Friday with a badly cut hand, which she caught in a door.

Mrs Hardy, 60, of Warwick Road, Balderton, said doctors at Newark Hospital said they could not treat the wound, and she would have to be transferred to the specialist hand unit at Derby.

She said she was assured at the reception desk and by a nurse that transport would be arranged for her journey home.

When she arrived at the Royal Derby, the wound was stitched and rods were inserted either side of a broken finger to hold it in place.

Mrs Hardy claims doctors again assured her transport would be available, but when the arrangements were checked, the hospital could not find a record of her transfer and no transport was provided.

Mrs Hardy said she had no issue with the level of care she received at Derby but questioned why she was sent 40 miles away with no real prospect of getting home.

“I was a long way from home,” she said.

“I was very disorientated and although my husband was with me, did not feel up to hunting around for a train station.

“We had no option but to get a taxi and it ended up costing £65.

“I was promised transport but there was no transport at all. That’s disgusting. I was dumped in Derby.”

A spokesman for Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said Mrs Hardy was transferred to the Accident and Emergency department at the Royal Derby Hospital from Newark Hospital and admitted to the day case clinic at the Pulvertaft Hand Centre for treatment.

She said transport home from the hospital was arranged only for patients where there was a medical need and there was no record of any transport being requested or booked home for Mrs Hardy.

She said: “We sympathise with Mrs Hardy but patient transport home must be reserved for our sickest patients.”

The department leader, accident and emergency, at Newark Hospital, said: “If there is a medical need for transport it is normal practice for the hospital where you are treated to arrange for the patient to get home.”